With the help of the intellectual property law clinics at Indiana University Maurer School of Law and Notre Dame Law Schools, inventors are securing patents and protections that could give their ideas the commercial boost the need to compete in the marketplace.

In the wake of hefty attorney fees and an onslaught of what was viewed as unnecessary litigation filed by “patent trolls,” Congress authorized the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to begin conducting inter partes reviews of patent challenges in 2012 as an efficient and cost-effective alternative to patent litigation. But now, the popular IPR process could be in jeopardy as the United States Supreme Court considers whether federal law requires patent challenges to be adjudicated in court.

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When it often takes three to five years to secure a patent, you don’t want to empty your patent application pipeline if you think the law will change in the near term. And now it is looking increasingly likely that Congress will step in and bring order to the current chaos.

While license agreements are often complex, we have seen many common pitfalls in licenses for patents and know-how (trademark and copyright licenses present similar issues, but are beyond the scope of this article). A “top 10” is a somewhat arbitrary list, but here goes:

At Indiana University, Purdue University, Notre Dame and elsewhere, specialized university technology and commercialization offices are taking an expanding role in protecting the intellectual property of academic research, innovations and inventions.

The law surrounding a key patent statute, 35 U.S.C. § 101, is “a real problem” that is “almost impossible to apply consistently and coherently” and “needs clarification by higher authority.” When federal appellate judges make statements like these, the issue is worth further exploration.

Dr. Rick C. Sasso, an Indiana spine surgeon and inventor, has won a sweeping, five-year legal battle against medical-device giant Medtronic, with a jury this week awarding him $112 million in damages. Sasso, president of Indiana Spine Group, claimed Medtronic had violated a contract by not paying royalties he was due for spinal implants and screw-implant systems he had invented and licensed to the company more than a decade ago.

Detecting cancers and cardiovascular diseases now may be a bit easier thanks to a new patent secured by the Notre Dame Law School’s Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Clinic. The portable invention may help doctors detect such serious diseases faster and more economically by using biomarkers.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has designated the Indiana University Maurer School of Law’s Center for Intellectual Property Research as the patent hub for the commonwealth of Kentucky, expanding the center’s previous designation as Indiana’s patent hub.